Michelle Loubon

Renowned ca­lyp­son­ian Slinger Fran­cis­co has been open­ing his shows with the au­to­bi­o­graph­i­cal Spar­row Dead since he re­turned to the en­ter­tain­ment cir­cuit in New York on Sun­day.

On Ju­ly 28, Fran­cis­co, aka Spar­row, un­der­went emer­gency surgery at a pri­vate hos­pi­tal in Mary­land, Unit­ed States. He had suf­fered acute pain on the right groin af­ter per­form­ing. Ca­lyp­so re­searcher Alvin Daniell says Fran­cis­co, 75, told him he was back on the job and tit­il­lat­ing the au­di­ences with Spar­row Dead. The song was writ­ten in the 60s af­ter ru­mours cir­cu­lat­ed Fran­cis­co had "kicked the buck­et". Daniell said: "Spar­row will be per­form­ing in Toron­to. Last night (Mon­day) he per­formed in New York with Ca­lyp­so Rose and Gre­go­ry Isaacs. He has been open­ing show af­ter show with Spar­row Dead. The re­sponse has been fan­tas­tic.

"He is spir­it­ed and pos­i­tive and sound­ed a lot like his old self. He is well rest­ed and feel­ing a lit­tle bet­ter," added Daniell. Mean­while, his doc­tors were still mon­i­tor­ing his health but they are not alarmed at present. Among the doc­tors who are as­sist­ing Fran­cis­co at Mary­land were Pa­tri­cia San­di­ford, Jac­in­ta Ar­ring­ton and Roger Weir. Dr Fe­lix Ovi­a­su, who is based at Long Is­land, New York, al­so has been con­duct­ing tests.

Re­cent­ly, Fran­cis­co's le­gions of lo­cal fans suf­fered anx­i­ety af­ter he suf­fered health prob­lems dur­ing his not so per­fect per­for­mance at the NA­PA Fest, Port-of-Spain. Back then, Fran­cis­co said it could be ver­ti­go, a con­di­tion char­ac­terised by dizzi­ness. Among Fran­cis­co's gems are Ed­u­ca­tion, Doh Back Back, Salt­fish and Mae Mae.